2016 Candidate Elections Overview

by Calder Burgam | 2017-11-01

Amid the din of the 2016 presidential election, more than 14,000 state-level candidates fought to claim seats in state capitals across the country. Those candidates combined to raise an unprecedented amount of money in a presidential election year.

Legislative office-seekers broke fundraising records by more than $150 million. Meanwhile, statewide office-seekers raised $100 million more than had ever been recorded in a presidential year. Fundraising records fell across the country in states both large and small. California and Illinois legislative candidates, usually among the top fundraisers, rocketed past their usual fundraising marks, while gubernatorial races in Montana and Vermont tripled average fundraising totals.

Table 1: Contributions to State-Level Candidates, by Office, 2016

Office

TOTAL

State House/Assembly

$729,323,385

State Senate

$442,586,655

Gubernatorial

$253,532,182

Other Statewide

$116,547,054

State Supreme Court

$23,512,976

Appellate Court

$10,989,699

TOTAL

$1,576,491,951

Republicans held the overall fundraising edge for the fourth straight even-year election, receiving major help from party committees and a big increase in contributions from ideological groups. Democrats were able to remain relatively close to their GOP counterparts, however, thanks in large part to organized labor.

The Institute’s analysis of the money raised around campaigns for state-level offices in 2016 includes the following notable findings:

Candidates for state house and senate combined to break the legislative fundraising record by $150 million.

Legislative Races

State legislative candidates raked in $1.17 billion in 2016, blowing past the previous high of $1.02 billion, set in 2014. The partisan split of the money was predictably in the GOP’s favor; after winning their largest share of state legislative seats since the 1920s in 2014, Republicans placed 534 more incumbents on ballots than did Democrats in 2016.1 That incumbency advantage was a major factor in Republican legislative candidates raising $55 million more than Democrats and winning 785 more seats.

The Republican fundraising advantage was broad and often deep. Among the 43 states with regularly scheduled legislative elections, GOP office-seekers held an overall monetary edge in 27 states. In more than half of these states, Republican raised twice as much or more than Democrats. Meanwhile, Democrats outraised the GOP in just 16 states, primarily in the Northeast. They achieved a two-to-one advantage in five states.

Candidates in two states played outsized roles in the drastic uptick: Illinois and California. In all but one even-year election cycle since 2000, California legislative candidates have received more money than their counterparts in other states. It appeared as though that trend was set to continue in 2016 until money flooded into Illinois state legislative races late, in part due to a proxy war between GOP Governor Bruce Rauner and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.2 When all was said and done, 50 candidates had raised at least $1 million, compared to the previous high of 18. Among them was Republican House Leader Jim Durkin, who received a record-breaking $19.4 million for his unopposed 2016 reelection campaign, and promptly gave most of it to the House Republican Organization and the Illinois Republican Party.3

Whereas the Illinois proxy war kept fundraising between the parties’ candidates relatively close in Illinois, California’s record-breaking year was delivered by a wave of Democratic contributions. Democratic candidates seeking seats in the California State Assembly or Senate outraised their Republican opponents by $80 million. With that funding, Democrats regained super majorities in both chambers.4

Gubernatorial Races

Twelve states held gubernatorial elections in 2016. The quarter billion dollars raised by these tickets represents a 38 percent increase over 2012. Overall, Republican candidates held a $26 million fundraising advantage. However, that advantage stems from expensive primary races and impressive fundraising by Indiana governor Mike Pence prior to his withdrawal to join Donald Trump’s presidential ticket. When narrowing the focus to fundraising among candidates that faced off in a general election, Democrats held an edge for the first time since 2008.

Despite controlling just 18 governor’s offices nationwide, Democrats were defending 8 of the 12 seats up in 2016. Their incumbents all held firm, earning reelection in Delaware, Montana, Oregon, and Washington. The party also managed to unseat the incumbent Republican governor, Pat McCrory, in North Carolina. However, the Republicans managed to flip Missouri, New Hampshire, and Vermont while holding seats in Indiana, North Dakota, and Utah, thus increasing their nationwide total to 33 governorships. That momentum has continued since the election as newly elected West Virginia Governor Jim Justice switched his party affiliation to the GOP less than one year after winning as a Democrat.5, 6

Half of the states saw their highest levels of gubernatorial fundraising ever: Indiana, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Utah, and Vermont. In multiple cases, contributions were orders of magnitude larger than the state’s average in the four elections prior. In Vermont, where gubernatorial contributions had average $2.7 million, contributions approached $9 million. The race between Montana’s incumbent governor Steve Bullock and self-funded challenger Greg Gianforte garnered nearly $12 million, nearly tripling the average fundraising for the seat. Missouri hosted the most expensive state-level race in the country as 23 candidates for governor and lieutenant governor combined to raise $87 million, approximately $50 million more than had ever been contributed to candidates for Missouri’s highest office.

Other Statewide Races

The money raised by candidates running for other statewide offices in 2016 was well above average, propelled by a record-setting attorney general race in Missouri and another Madigan-Rauner proxy race in Illinois’ special election for comptroller. All told, non-gubernatorial statewide candidates raised $117 million. It was the first time such candidates breached the $85 million threshold in a presidential year.

Table 2: Contributions to Other Statewide Candidates by Office, 2016

Office

Total

Attorney General

$52,221,107

Secretary of State

$13,340,728

Comptroller

$13,300,677

Treasurer

$11,619,780

Railroad Commissioner

$3,897,812

Superintendent of Public Instruction

$3,302,943

Auditor

$3,073,999

Board of Education

$2,817,946

Public Service Commissioner

$2,470,873

All Other Offices

$10,501,190

TOTAL

$116,547,054

The overall increase was the product of a rise in contributions to both Democrats and Republicans. Democratic candidates received $55 million—a $6 million rise over the previous presidential year record. Republicans earned $58 million, a surge of $20 million over their former high water mark.

Three races surpassed $10 million. While the general election candidates in these races all received millions of dollars in contributions, the races were monetarily uncompetitive. The top fundraiser received twice as much as the next best fundraiser in each. In the Missouri attorney general contest and the Illinois comptroller race, the fundraising hauls were two and three and a half times larger than had ever been raised for the seats, respectively.

Table 3: Top Three “Other Statewide” Races, by Party, 2016

Seat

Republican

Democratic

Total

Missouri Attorney General

$15,541,047

$6,277,616

$21,818,663

Illinois Comptroller

$9,968,440

$3,332,236

$13,300,677

Pennsylvania Attorney General

$2,089,842

$9,713,273

$11,803,115

Judicial Races

Compared to the high cost of gubernatorial and legislative elections, candidates for state supreme and appellate courts had a relatively low dollar year. Supreme court candidates raised the third-lowest in an even year since 2000. Meanwhile, appellate court candidates received the lowest amount since the Institute began gathering data for the office in 2007.

Retention candidates had the steepest decline. In recent years, a handful of retention candidates raised millions of dollars in response to organized opposition, though the vast majority have foregone raising money completely. In 2016, though, there was no small group of challenged retention fundraisers. The $105,108 raised by three Tennessee Supreme Court judges represents the total amount raised by retention candidates in supreme court and appellate court races nationwide.

The trend of retention candidates raising serious cash is a recent one, likely due in part to the losses of three Iowa retention candidates in 2010. After the judges unanimously approved same-sex marriage in the state, out-of-state money poured in and they were defeated. It was the first time Iowa Supreme Court judges had ever lost a retention bid.7 Future years will tell whether this year’s absence of major retention fundraisers represents a return to pre-2010 norms or if it is merely a temporary lull.

In partisan races, Republicans fielded 14 more candidates than did Democrats, and raised $6.3 million more. The difference was especially stark in state supreme court races, where Democrats raised just $380,419 compared to GOP candidates’ $7 million. The bulk of the contributions came in Texas and Louisiana. Democrats managed to field three losing challengers in the former and no candidates in the latter.

The Funders

Some familiar interests stand atop the list of contributing sectors. Political parties, organized labor, candidates and their committees, and finance, insurance and real estate outpaced all other sectors by each donating more than $100 million to state-level candidates. These same four interests ranked somewhere in the top-five contributing sectors in both 2012 and 2014. In a few cases, sectors made major increases in their contributions as compared to previous years.

Party Donors

Party donors are often at the top of the contributor list in any given year, but in 2016 they took those contributions to another level. For the first time, political parties gave more than $200 million to candidates. While overall party contributions to most offices hovered around historical norms, party contributions to legislative candidates shot up by nearly 40 percent since 2014. That increase was driven in large part by party spending in Illinois. In the eight cycles prior to 2016, Illinois political parties averaged $13 million in contributions to legislative candidates. In 2016, they contributed nearly $49 million.

Had it not been for the extraordinary activity among Illinois parties, California would have drawn the most attention for its prolific contributions. Previously, party committees had invested no more than $25.5 million in any state’s legislative contests in a single year. In the last election cycle, California parties’ legislative contributions reached $34 million, surpassing their historical average by more than $13 million.

Labor

Organized labor nearly surpassed its previous candidate contribution record, despite the drastic decrease in statewide offices up for election in 2016. Again, contributions to legislative candidates broke records, and again, Illinois was at the center of the increase. The cycle brought a $28.9 million increase in labor contributions to legislative candidates from the previous high-water mark set in 2014. In Illinois alone, labor contributions rose from $12 million to $34 million. Labor had never contributed more than $20 million to legislative candidates before 2016.

Expanding to all state-level candidates, the partisan split in labor contributions is striking. Labor contributed $112 million more to Democratic candidates than to Republicans. That differential helped keep the fundraising totals for candidates of the two major parties relatively close, though Republicans maintained a fundraising edge for the fourth straight even-year election cycle. Democrats needed that boost from labor more than ever. The sector accounted for 18 percent of all contributions to Democrats—another all-time high.

Ideological Donors

Official party committees were not the only ones increasing their direct contributions to candidates. Ideological and single-issue donors provided candidates nearly $84 million. Prior, that sector had contributed as much as $70 million to candidates, but donated only $37 million in the last comparable election cycle. Unlike official party committees, ideological groups were much more likely to home in on a few key races. Taking advantage of the final Missouri elections that had no contribution limits, ideological groups poured $37 million into statewide candidates’ campaign accounts.8 Statewide office-seekers in Indiana, another state lacking contribution limits, received more than $15 million from ideological and single-issue donors.

The Republican Governors Association, often mentioned for their prolific independent spending, was the top direct contributor to candidates. The $24 million they funneled into gubernatorial coffers was the most the organization has given to candidates in a single election cycle; it included $13 million to Eric Greitens in Missouri and more than $10.6 million combined to Mike Pence and Eric Holcomb in Indiana. That compares to just $6 million contributed by its counterpart, the Democratic Governors Association.

Big Donors Bigger Than Ever

Major donors played an outsized role in 2016. Contributions by donors that gave $1 million or more to candidates in the election cycle represented a quarter of all money raised by 2016 office-seekers. Meanwhile, unitemized donations (contributions small enough to fall below the identifying donor threshold) were the lowest for any even-year election since 2000. The only year in which million-dollar contributors made up a larger share of the donor pool was 2010, when the top 20 donors alone exceeded $400 million in candidate contributions.

The prominence of million-dollar donors in 2010 was driven by wealthy office-seekers pouring more than $300 million into their own campaigns, accounting for 47 percent of all million-dollar donor contributions. In 2016, just 8 percent of major donor contributions came from self funders.

Figure 5: Total From Contributors Who Gave at Least $1 Million to One or More 2016 Candidates

Conclusion

Candidates in 2016 raised more than in any comparable year. Fundraising shattered records in many races, as million-dollar donors poured money into campaigns across the country. One of every four dollars raised by candidates was contributed by a donor that gave at least $1 million to office-seekers in the cycle. Whereas previous elections dominated by million-dollar donors saw a major influx of self-financing candidates, in 2016, party committees, ideological groups, and labor vastly exceeded their historical averages to become the primary drivers of what ended up being a historically high fundraising year up and down the ticket.

APPENDIX A: Contributions to 2016 State House Candidates

State

Democratic

Republican

Third-Party

TOTAL

Alabama

$10,790

$519,142

---

$529,932

Alaska

$1,240,402

$1,945,495

$332,994

$3,518,891

Arizona

$2,241,619

$3,149,503

$5,775

$5,396,897

Arkansas

$1,831,681

$3,253,182

$8,182

$5,093,045

California

$80,887,396

$31,678,208

$92,152

$112,657,756

Colorado

$3,959,782

$1,881,706

$1,877

$5,843,366

Connecticut

$4,106,688

$2,811,742

$23,808

$6,942,239

Delaware

$969,947

$624,704

$2,290

$1,596,941

Florida

$9,528,553

$22,951,277

$246,069

$32,725,899

Georgia

$4,193,967

$11,846,468

$6,933

$16,047,368

Hawaii

$2,959,827

$508,976

$27,313

$3,496,116

Idaho

$889,645

$2,081,795

$5,036

$2,976,476

Illinois

$60,304,845

$59,737,157

---

$120,042,002

Indiana

$3,007,782

$8,395,306

$14,006

$11,417,094

Iowa

$5,626,007

$8,685,475

$55,648

$14,367,131

Kansas

$1,778,061

$3,868,727

$14,569

$5,661,358

Kentucky

$5,617,704

$7,092,672

$3,243

$12,713,620

Louisiana

$147,434

$50,085

$23,967

$221,486

Maine

$1,001,045

$975,759

$58,966

$2,035,770

Massachusetts

$11,317,448

$2,918,048

$197,026

$14,432,522

Michigan

$9,968,424

$11,577,983

$11,192

$21,557,599

Minnesota

$4,548,469

$4,003,535

$355

$8,552,359

Mississippi

---

---

$229,475

$229,475

Missouri

$5,127,760

$12,567,014

$113,455

$17,808,229

Montana

$642,629

$868,267

$6,426

$1,517,322

Nevada

$6,053,795

$4,652,984

$230,353

$10,937,132

New Hampshire

$299,734

$311,171

$42,292

$653,197

New Jersey

$145,546

$0

---

$145,546

New Mexico

$3,433,195

$3,740,318

$550

$7,174,062

New York

$17,540,397

$4,859,739

$55,534

$22,455,670

North Carolina

$8,003,941

$14,070,598

$212,960

$22,287,499

North Dakota

$390,655

$385,945

---

$776,600

Ohio

$7,700,014

$20,208,642

$74,811

$27,983,467

Oklahoma

$3,253,818

$7,582,060

$30,755

$10,866,634

Oregon

$10,662,230

$10,069,287

$239,123

$20,970,640

Pennsylvania

$20,565,869

$20,988,156

$34,031

$41,588,056

Rhode Island

$3,138,320

$379,336

$130,875

$3,648,532

South Carolina

$1,559,902

$3,769,503

$6,794

$5,336,200

South Dakota

$390,040

$1,074,787

$8,787

$1,473,615

Tennessee

$3,122,794

$8,400,083

$71,227

$11,594,104

Texas

$17,026,216

$58,965,350

$8,991

$76,000,557

Utah

$978,426

$3,431,931

$2,852

$4,413,209

Vermont

$498,899

$398,621

$63,643

$961,163

Virginia

$26,571

---

---

$26,571

Washington

$8,951,179

$7,306,904

$1,164,593

$17,422,677

West Virginia

$3,103,479

$2,216,624

$13,098

$5,333,201

Wisconsin

$4,065,646

$4,747,233

$15,516

$8,828,395

Wyoming

$364,017

$691,849

$9,900

$1,065,766

TOTAL

$343,182,592

$382,243,349

$3,897,445

$729,323,385

*Three dashes (---) indicates no candidate of that party affiliation participated.

APPENDIX B: Contributions to 2016 State Senate Candidates

State

Democratic

Republican

Non-Partisan

Third-Party

TOTAL

Alaska

$437,256

$992,215

---

$271,298

$1,700,769

Arizona

$1,530,025

$2,297,418

---

$1,000

$3,828,443

Arkansas

$601,305

$1,656,625

---

$0

$2,257,930

California

$42,511,484

$11,510,772

---

$13,800

$54,036,056

Colorado

$2,148,490

$1,339,783

---

$205

$3,488,478

Connecticut

$3,699,972

$2,766,378

---

$13,025

$6,479,376

Delaware

$605,012

$462,520

---

$0

$1,067,532

Florida

$13,868,880

$20,649,857

---

$405,234

$34,923,971

Georgia

$1,423,032

$8,029,771

---

$72,015

$9,524,817

Hawaii

$2,061,929

$84,434

---

$14,770

$2,161,133

Idaho

$349,856

$1,024,511

---

$0

$1,374,367

Illinois

$29,146,080

$18,772,594

---

---

$47,918,674

Indiana

$1,291,808

$6,791,066

---

$3,335

$8,086,209

Iowa

$6,633,281

$5,493,840

---

$22,174

$12,149,295

Kansas

$1,909,974

$4,628,949

---

$2,737

$6,541,660

Kentucky

$1,426,656

$1,442,214

---

---

$2,868,870

Maine

$1,306,915

$1,080,825

---

$77,109

$2,464,850

Massachusetts

$6,492,030

$1,545,515

---

$104,621

$8,142,166

Michigan

$116,473

$0

---

---

$116,473

Minnesota

$4,124,967

$3,072,148

---

$3,443

$7,200,558

Mississippi

---

---

$181,373

---

$181,373

Missouri

$6,630,477

$10,486,442

---

$6,807

$17,123,726

Montana

$237,921

$495,272

---

$3

$733,196

Nebraska

---

---

$5,396,071

---

$5,396,071

Nevada

$4,854,054

$2,282,034

---

$32,062

$7,168,149

New Hampshire

$1,806,903

$1,208,235

---

$9,235

$3,024,373

New Jersey

$111,905

$0

---

---

$111,905

New Mexico

$3,701,552

$2,118,202

---

---

$5,819,754

New York

$19,504,963

$21,481,161

---

$543,780

$41,529,905

North Carolina

$4,559,280

$12,503,727

---

$2,920

$17,065,927

North Dakota

$203,508

$343,788

---

---

$547,296

Ohio

$2,321,478

$12,594,140

---

---

$14,915,619

Oklahoma

$1,403,733

$4,780,170

---

$36,208

$6,220,111

Oregon

$3,425,353

$3,969,870

---

$36,159

$7,431,382

Pennsylvania

$14,233,383

$19,586,794

---

$5,614

$33,825,791

Rhode Island

$1,650,672

$168,802

---

$14,152

$1,833,627

South Carolina

$2,239,494

$7,480,408

---

$0

$9,719,902

South Dakota

$315,736

$680,333

---

$12,023

$1,008,092

Tennessee

$456,007

$6,437,229

---

$7,641

$6,900,877

Texas

$9,903,882

$12,847,472

---

$0

$22,751,355

Utah

$240,034

$2,035,228

---

$2,358

$2,277,620

Vermont

$627,388

$163,088

---

$5,002

$795,478

Virginia

$342,786

$1,355

---

$1,308

$345,450

Washington

$3,282,439

$5,320,352

---

$675,397

$9,278,187

West Virginia

$2,082,130

$1,281,121

---

$0

$3,363,251

Wisconsin

$3,175,674

$3,216,005

---

$18,986

$6,410,665

Wyoming

$86,496

$354,690

---

$34,762

$475,948

TOTAL

$209,082,674

$225,477,353

$5,577,444

$2,449,183

$442,586,655

*Three dashes (---) indicates no candidate of that party affiliation participated.

APPENDIX C: Contributions to Gubernatorial Candidates

State

Democratic

Republican

Third-Party

Total

Delaware

$2,777,227

$465,979

$1,896

$3,245,101

Indiana

$17,563,676

$30,555,017

$24,191

$48,142,885

Missouri

$30,470,856

$55,984,743

$227,281

$86,682,881

Montana

$3,284,520

$8,582,055

$0

$11,866,575

New Hampshire

$2,285,856

$3,053,696

$0

$5,339,552

North Carolina

$25,999,669

$17,676,621

$11,413

$43,687,703

North Dakota

$108,251

$2,754,299

$3,599

$2,866,149

Oregon

$5,574,133

$3,937,316

$5,677

$9,517,126

Utah

$3,220,391

$5,204,888

$10,501

$8,435,780

Vermont

$4,342,750

$4,192,644

$405,909

$8,941,302

Washington

$11,553,723

$4,258,568

$6,647

$15,818,939

West Virginia

$6,024,592

$2,946,764

$16,834

$8,988,190

Total

$113,205,644

$139,612,590

$713,947

$253,532,182

*Three dashes (---) indicates no candidate of that party affiliation participated.

APPENDIX D: Contributions to Other Statewide Candidates

State

Democratic

Republican

Nonpartisan

Third-Party

TOTAL

Alabama

$10,892

$876,831

---

---

$887,723

Arizona

$561,512

$578,426

---

---

$1,139,938

Colorado

$211,259

$262,565

$58,609

$0

$532,433

Delaware

$365,163

$30,311

---

---

$395,474

Georgia

---

$327,535

---

$0

$327,535

Hawaii

---

---

$259,055

---

$259,055

Illinois

$3,332,236

$9,968,440

---

---

$13,300,677

Indiana

$1,404,357

$2,090,880

---

---

$3,495,237

Kansas

$55,810

$36,361

---

$15,384

$107,555

Louisiana

$729,799

$592,587

---

---

$1,322,386

Massachusetts

$755,688

$202,789

---

---

$958,477

Michigan

$254,040

$49,178

---

$9,725

$312,943

Missouri

$8,046,080

$21,484,534

---

$25

$29,530,639

Montana

$978,199

$1,135,051

---

$54,113

$2,167,364

Nebraska

---

$77,488

$231,074

---

$308,562

Nevada

---

---

$957,224

---

$957,224

New Hampshire

$787,838

$131,979

---

$0

$919,817

New Mexico

$863,682

$360,360

$2,125

$1,226,167

North Carolina

$7,633,485

$3,721,614

---

---

$11,355,099

North Dakota

$59,729

$310,894

$94,735

$20

$465,378

Ohio

---

---

$441,745

---

$441,745

Oklahoma

$118,531

$670,770

---

---

$789,300

Oregon

$5,526,307

$2,235,618

---

$86,420

$7,848,345

Pennsylvania

$13,595,585

$2,714,900

---

$0

$16,310,484

South Dakota

$12,247

$115,400

---

$127,647

Texas

$402,394

$3,835,204

---

$128,750

$4,366,347

Utah

$159,662

$1,574,663

$404,429

$7,100

$2,145,854

Vermont

$453,987

$115,422

---

$0

$569,409

Washington

$3,955,291

$2,042,610

$528,832

$9,483

$6,536,216

West Virginia

$4,964,594

$2,463,862

---

$13,570

$7,442,026

TOTAL

$55,238,364

$58,006,270

$2,975,704

$326,715

$116,547,054

*Three dashes (---) indicates no candidate of that party affiliation participated.

APPENDIX E: Contributions to 2016 Supreme Court Candidates

State

Democratic

Republican

Nonpartisan

Third-Party

Retention

TOTAL

Alabama

---

$262,319

---

---

---

$262,319

Alaska

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Arizona

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Arkansas

---

---

$1,729,476

---

---

$1,729,476

Colorado

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Florida

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Georgia

---

---

$189,385

---

---

$189,385

Idaho

---

---

$431,258

---

---

$431,258

Iowa

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Kansas

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Kentucky

---

---

$488,700

---

---

$488,700

Louisiana

---

$2,408,179

---

---

---

$2,408,179

Maryland

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Michigan

---

---

$1,214,963

---

---

$1,214,963

Minnesota

---

---

$64,879

---

---

$64,879

Mississippi

---

---

$2,004,464

---

---

$2,004,464

Missouri

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Montana

---

---

$789,282

---

---

$789,282

Nebraska

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Nevada

---

---

$0

---

---

$0

New Mexico

$236,991

$227,275

---

---

$0

$464,266

North Carolina

---

---

$672,230

---

---

$672,230

North Dakota

---

---

$51,052

---

---

$51,052

Ohio

---

$26,233

$3,091,238

---

---

$3,117,471

Oklahoma

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Oregon

---

---

$0

---

---

$0

Tennessee

---

---

---

---

$105,108

$105,108

Texas

$143,427

$4,086,330

---

$1,350

---

$4,231,108

Washington

---

---

$1,060,942

---

---

$1,060,942

West Virginia

---

---

$1,972,290

---

$1,972,290

Wisconsin

---

---

$2,249,071

---

---

$2,249,071

Wyoming

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

TOTAL

$380,419

$7,010,336

$16,009,230

$1,350

$105,108

$23,506,444

*Three dashes (---) indicates no candidate of that party affiliation participated.

APPENDIX F: Contributions to 2016 Appellate Court Candidates

State

Democratic

Republican

Nonpartisan

Third-Party

Retention

Grand Total

Alaska

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Arizona

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Arkansas

---

---

$359,209

---

---

$359,209

Colorado

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Florida

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Georgia

---

---

$223,017

---

---

$223,017

Idaho

---

---

$0

---

---

$0

Illinois

$826,339

$166,479

---

---

$0

$992,818

Indiana

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Iowa

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Kansas

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Louisiana

$1,824,325

$1,082,098

---

---

---

$2,906,423

Maryland

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Michigan

---

---

$426,675

---

---

$426,675

Minnesota

---

---

$684

---

---

$684

Mississippi

---

---

$375,059

---

---

$375,059

Missouri

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Nebraska

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Nevada

---

---

$2,200

---

---

$2,200

New Mexico

$236,680

$214,010

---

---

$0

$450,690

North Carolina

$122,453

$34,251

$1,248,765

$0

---

$1,405,469

Ohio

$3,394

$11,269

$1,139,336

---

---

$1,153,999

Oklahoma

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Oregon

---

---

$13,604

---

---

$13,604

Tennessee

---

---

---

---

$0

$0

Texas

$675,638

$1,895,349

---

---

---

$2,570,988

Washington

---

---

$103,617

---

---

$103,617

Wisconsin

---

---

$5,247

---

---

$5,247

TOTAL

$3,688,829

$3,403,456

$3,897,414

$0

$0

$10,989,699

*Three dashes (---) indicates no candidate of that party affiliation participated.

6. While such switches are uncommon, Jim Justice was not a conventional Democrat. An Institute report on the Justice family revealed that nearly two-thirds of their political contributions from 2000 through 2016 went to Republicans.